microsoft service packs?

[OldAussieFisherman]

aanthony:

Thankyou Gillies and Terry, guess I should download these things then.

Thats the way to go, If you download them on a regular basis they will not be so large, (= take less time to download). I am sorry to say it but microsoft programmes are full of bugs that can be used to do all kinds of nasty things to other peoples computers and always has been from day 1.

If you bought a motor vechile and had as much trouble with it as you do with computer stuff you would take it back right smart and get it fixed, with computer stuff you have to do it yourself or take the risk of the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death".

Happy computing (and fishing)

OldAussieFisherman

[Jim Murray]

Go to This link, put in your OS, put in SP4 (since you will be getting it), and check the box for only the more recent issues which will give you a list of only the post-SP4 security patches and see which ones you need.

 

To All - for any MS OS or product, you can use the same link and get your own list. [/QB]

 

Newt - Tried entering my own OS(W98)and it's giving me 47 available updates.

 

AFAIK my system hasn't had *any* updates since install so do I need to download *all* the patches to get up to date...?

 

Jim.

[Newt]

Jim - my suggestion is all the security patches and for the others, only the ones that apply to your system as you use it.

 

I'm a serious fan of BigFix. It runs in the background (very minimal resource use) or you can run it as you want and it scans for updates that apply to your system. Offers links to get them but easy to decline one.

 

It lets me know of available Microsoft patches before they show up when you try for an update at the Microsoft site and it doesn't show me lots of stuff I don't need for my system.

 

Free and has been rock solid for everyone I know of who uses it.

[Jim Murray]

I'm a serious fan of BigFix. It runs in the background (very minimal resource use) or you can run it as you want and it scans for updates that apply to your system. Offers links to get them but easy to decline one.

 

Newt - Thanks for the pointer to Bigfix, been running it for 2 weeks now and it looks very impressive. As it seems to take care of all the security updates, is there *any* need to apply the Service packs as they are issued?

 

Jim.

[Newt]

Jim - the whole Service Pack thing is a matter of personal preference.

 

I tend to only apply/load them if they fix a problem I have with my system and there isn't a single patch for it.

 

Others like to load a SP as soon as it's released.

 

Better, if you do want to go with the SP since it rolls all the previous fixes into a single package, is wait a couple of months after the release to make sure the SP isn't causing problems and then load it. Most are fine but several have been complete disasters. SP2 for NT4 broke a large number of PCs as I remember and SP3 was released way sooner than usual.

 

I run XP-pro and have not loaded SP1 even though it's been around for months. No need as far as I can see so I'm just keeping up with the security things that apply to my enviornment.

[Lid]

Well I don't know if this is the right approach, but I subscribe to the Microsoft Critical Updates site and whenever it notifies me of updates, I install them.